Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

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jakesalomon
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Re: Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

Post by jakesalomon »

Hi Y'all and thanks much for your patient help these past weeks.

I think it's time to stop banging my head on the wall on give up on the WiFi under Linux Mint with the HP-installed rtl8821ce device (which works fine under windows and worked fine for the first few days.) Rather than risk messing with the secure boot setting in the bios :chicken: I have invested ~$10 in a TP-Link Nano USB adapter. (Model TL-WN725N, if that means anything to anyone.) The package claims Linux support, though the insert give instructions only for Windows and MAC-OS.

I'll post the results, good or bad, on this thread. A Google search (or was it Duck Duck Go?) tells me I am far from the only person with this frustrating conundrum. Maybe I can post a useful solution for this community.

WOW! This post is less than one screenfull! Who am I and what have I done with me?! :shock:
--- Jake S
"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite, And the crew of the captain's gig."
---
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Pjotr
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Re: Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

Post by Pjotr »

jakesalomon wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:56 am Rather than risk messing with the secure boot setting in the bios
There is no risk. Just do it. :wink:

I disable Secure Boot on all of my machines (and on the machines under my care), as a matter of course. And have been doing so for years. Without any problems or issues caused thereby.

Secure Boot is not a security feature in the practical sense of the word. It's just a Microsoft ploy to make installing another OS more difficult.
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jakesalomon
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Solved: Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

Post by jakesalomon »

Pjotr,
Following your assurance and your very believable description of Secure Boot as a Microsoft device to make life difficult, I finally decoded to UN-chicken (the :chicken: chicken emoji isn't clear) and disabled the secure boot at the bios. The moment I completed the Linux boot, all the wireless devices nearby - including my WiFi printer and my neighbors' routers - were visible. I unplugged the RJ-45 from the PC and I am running via the WiFi as I type this. Of course, wired is faster; the tp-link was only USB-2, to my annoyance, so I will be running wired whenever It's on my desk.

It helps that I was unable to locate a driver for the tp-link device for the 5.15.0-58 kernel. Great motivation.

I don't know if anyone here remembers JCL (Job Control Language) on old IBM mainframes. The Devil's Dictionary of IT (which I can't find online) defined JCL as "An abstruse tool designed to prevent creation of new software."

NOW I'm free to ask other questions about subpartitions and /etc/fstab. But that will be another thread.

THANKS! Спасибо вам большое! Nagyon szépen köszönöm! Grazie mille! !תודה רבה
--- Jake S
"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite, And the crew of the captain's gig."
---
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Re: Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

Post by motoryzen »

Secure Boot is not a security feature in the practical sense of the word. It's just a Microsoft ploy to make installing another OS more difficult
I hate to say it out of respect for never trying to sound like I'm going along with a crowd against those who think otherwise, but I too have enough experience disabling Secure boot and it never has given me problems. It is simply a bs placebo Microsoft created..period. TPM imo isn't much different.
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jakesalomon
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Solved: Wifi capability vanished. Complains that cable unplugged

Post by jakesalomon »

Mororyzen and Pjotr,

While I was happy with the Linux result - that WiFi suddenly works when Secure Boot is disabled, I need to add a caveat.

When I next booted windows, it came up with a message on the same blue screen as the blue screen of death. It complained about a changed in the BIOS and invited me to enter the 4-digit code shown. WHERE??? Oh, there it was! :relief:

It next complained about some unspecified problem and invited me to either turn off or run the troubleshooter. The troubleshooter failed and I feared I had bricked my Windows partition. I took the ShutDown this time, ready to run an Acronis restore but tried just once more. Yayyy! I got my Windows back as well.

Just advising others about this potential panic-inducer. I suppose it's Microsoft's little vengeance for daring to install another OS. Is there an emoji for thumbing my nose? Though this will do in the meantime: :tongue:
--- Jake S
"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite, And the crew of the captain's gig."
---
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